Need You Tonight
by ithaswhatitisnt
Summary: Songfic to Lady A's Need You Now: Bella is really feeling the depression, and she needs her personal sun right now. Bella/Jacob angsty fluff! Oneshot.


This takes place during New Moon the movie, and it's just a little Bella/Jacob angsty fluff. I'll separate Jacob and Bella's differing POVs with ().

Disclaimer: If I owned Twilight, which I obviously don't, Edward would be mine and Bella would be in Mary-Sues Anonymous. I also don't own Lady Antebellum or the song "Need You Now". Thanks for letting me borrow it!

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><p><em>Picture perfect memories<em>

_Scattered all around the floor _

_Reachin' for the phone cuz_

_I can't fight it anymore_

_And I wonder if I ever _

_Cross your mind_

_For me_

_It happens all the time…_

(Bella POV) I couldn't believe that for six months he had no contact with me. He hadn't read the desperate messages I sent in Alice's e-mails. He couldn't see how he caused me to sink into the teeth of depression. He couldn't see the life seep out of me, couldn't feel me go dead.

He also couldn't see how my savior had caused the depression to be chased away. It was an unhappy memory, one I could bear now. He couldn't see how every day I dealt with the promises he made me and broke. He went back on every single one of his promises. Did I really let myself become that vulnerable? Did he honestly believe that it was ethical to tear a human apart this way and leave them bleeding and ragged?

Yes, the depression and mood swings could be swerved away now, with a simple mention of my best friend, Jacob. Jacob understood how _he_ had left me, and Jacob put me back together. Jacob made me feel warm and wanted, and he made me love myself in a way _he _never had. I rolled over on my lumpy mattress and glared unhappily at the clock. It was 1:15 in the morning, and my mind was running at full power. I had no desire to sleep now. I wondered if Jacob was thinking about me in the wee hours of the night…

Before, _he_ was my every thought and consumed my mind like a drug. _He _was like an unhealthy addiction, and although I knew it was real, I still wondered if he ever thought of me and wondered about my feelings.

_It's a quarter after one_

_I'm all alone_

_And I need you now_

_Said I wouldn't call_

_But I lost all control_

_And I need you now_

_And I don't know how_

_I can do without_

_I just need you now…_

(Bella POV) As I reminisced, though somewhat unhappily, memories of happy days hit me like bullets. The pictures of things that were felt like a slap in the face. A warm meadow, sparkling…a beautiful, open home in neutral palettes…him, ferocious as a lion and as beautiful as anything…

The gash in my heart throbbed, and I gasped quietly, clutching at my chest. I hoped that I could reach my hands through my chest and silence the pain that ebbed with every heartbeat.

What I wouldn't give for a chance to have Jacob here with me. If I had Jake with me all the time, that wouldn't allow for opportunities for _his _memory to attack me. I propped myself up on my pillows, to glance quickly at the paraphernalia that littered the floor; everything was a reminder of what had been with _him. _The empty CD case that had held my lullaby, the scrapbook which had once contained his very essence, and notes that we had scribbled to each other during Biology when he told me he would teach me the lesson that night, on our own time. We never did, he always insisted that time was too short to spend learning about life, but he would then help me cheat on my tests. Perfect a pluses all the time, and I had _him _to thank for it.

Thinking about _him_ left me open and showed the world my weaknesses, my loopholes. I couldn't stand to be so helpless.

I fell back onto my pillows, wishing that for once I could be in some other girl's life, someone who lived a normal, boring, plain-Jane life. That was the life I wanted. Instead I got the life filled with mythical melodrama.

My fingers twitched toward the phone. I yearned to call Jake, but I knew Billy would be pissed if I called at all hours. Jake wouldn't mind, but still…

_Another shot of whiskey_

_Can't stop lookin' at the door_

_Wishin' you'd come sweepin' in_

_The way you did before_

_And I wonder if I ever_

_Cross your mind_

_For me_

_It happens all the time…_

(Jacob POV) I downed yet another shot of whisky and my alcohol-infused fingers hovered over the phone. Was there ever such an obsession among humans, that one human could be so utterly fixated on another? On the one hand, I wanted to give Bella a ring and just talk for a while. She was my closest friend, and she knew all my secrets. I had a new secret to share with her loving selfless soul: I loved her with every bit of me, from my nerves to my cells. I wished dearly that she would waltz into the room clumsily as she always did and I would catch her and hold her, and she just glared jokingly at me with an expression that clearly said "Don't enjoy this too much".

On the other hand, I wanted to call up the head parasite and scream at him. Did he think he was so above normal human nature that he could take a perfectly normal human girl and tear her to pieces and leave her for dead? Did he think that his actions would leave no consequences? Secretly, I thanked him for bringing Bella closer to me, but I hated the circumstances that brought her closer to my truthful loving embrace. I knew Bella was afraid to love again, and that made me furious. She didn't believe me when I said I would never lie to her, I would never break promises I made to her, and I would never, ever leave her. When I told her this, and on one knee, like a marriage proposal, she stared at me incredulously, disbelief dancing in her eyes. She had then hastily changed the subject, but I knew what I said had made an impact.

My intuition gnawed at my gut, telling me that Bella was awake right now, and she was probably thinking about me, too. I puzzled over whether she would want to call me now as much as I wanted to call her. Some strange force was compelling me to call her, but I resisted, to my dismay, because Charlie would hate me if I called and woke him up at 1:30 in the morning. _It's a quarter after one _

_I'm a little drunk_

_And I need you now_

_Said I wouldn't call_

_But I lost all control_

_And I need you now_

_And I don't know how_

_I can do without_

_I just need you now…_

(Jacob POV) I mean, I can think back to the happy times she had with him, but they were fake. He was just putting on a show for her entertainment at the moment. It sickened me to my core, but I said nothing. The cloud-coated days spent walking on the beach, going to her favorite movies, even taking her to prom…those were all _my_ memories. Or at least, the memories that should have been mine. The monster had his chance, and he basically ruined his life and hers. All because he wasn't thinking; why should he have been? He's _immortal_, he's _smart_, he's _rich_, and as much as it kills me inside to even think it, he's pretty damn good-looking, in a weird parasitic way. I can see why Bella fell for the cold, hard exterior. She was too absorbed to view the mind-numbing hurt that brewed behind the mask of an angel. The Cullens were demons, sent from my personal hell to ruin my future. Knees knocking, I rose from the couch and promptly fell back on my butt. I was too drunk to get to my own bed right down the hall. I had lost count of the whisky shots I had started drowning myself in to forget about Bella, and how sometimes the thought of her turned my stomach into butterflies.

It looked like I was staying on the couch for the night. Billy snored and turned over in his tiny bed. It creaked way too easily, and it provided a nice distraction for me. I listened for my father to get up, and when he didn't rise, I relaxed, my muscles unclenching. I snatched the blanket hanging above my head that was draped over the side of the couch and spread it over me. It was my mom's afghan, and it was the warmest thing I had ever felt.

Weighing the pros and cons in my confused mind, I wrestled with calling Bella. If I called now, problems would arise. But problems would also arise if I called later on. Like it or not, I told myself, I am calling her tonight.

_Yes I'd rather hurt _

_Than feel nothing at all_

_It's a quarter after one_

_I'm all alone and _

_I need you now_

_And I said I wouldn't call_

_But I'm a little drunk_

_And I need you now_

_And I don't know I can do without_

_I just need you now…_

(Bella POV) In a snap decision, my fingers snatched the phone from the cradle and clutched it to my ear hungrily. My other fingers were occupied with dialing Jacob's number as quickly as possible. I really didn't care what Charlie or Billy thought. I just wanted to hear Jacob's voice, because when I heard him, everything was all right, no matter what. Right now, I wanted reassurance and closure. I needed him to make sure my life was on track.

He must have been waiting by the phone, because he answered on the first ring.

"Bella!" he whispered ecstatically.

"Hi, Jake."

"What's up? Why'd you call?" he asked me, his heavy breathing worrying me. When Jacob breathed heavily, it meant he had something major on his mind. I couldn't think of anything I had said or done in the past couple of weeks to cause him stress. "I just wanted to hear your voice," I answered earnestly.

"Bella, don't give me that crap," Jake barked at me, hostile as he had never been with me.

"Jacob, I don't understand; what are you talking about?"

"'I just wanted to hear your voice,'" he mimicked me poorly. "Don't give me that, Bella. We both know you didn't call me just to hear my voice. Something's on your mind, and you're turning to me for help; isn't that right?"

My ashamed silence had given me away. His voice softened tremendously. "Bella, what's wrong?"

"Jake, you know me better than anyone, right? Anything I tell you, you keep to yourself, right?"

"Bella, what's this about?" he asked, his tone rising an octave over the static of the phone.

"Jake, I need you right now. The depression is coming back, Jake, and you're the only cure I can think of." It was true. The depression was making a comeback, and if Jacob didn't come immediately, it was going to swallow me like a black hole, and I would never be able to come out.

His sharp hiss alarmed me.

"Bella, why didn't you tell me earlier? I could have slept over tonight, you know."

"Jacob, I thought I could fight it on my own. I need you, Jake. I need you to fix me." I loathed using him as a crutch, but there was no one else I could turn to; there was no one else who could help me fight the beast that was my depression.

"Bella, I need to tell you one thing, before I come," Jacob breathed.

"Name it," I shot back, praying it was something good.

"I love you, Bella," Jacob said, clear as day. It didn't shock me. "I love you too, Jacob."

"You love me the same way I love you?" he challenged me.

"Jacob, I love you like a brother, and you love me like a…" I couldn't finish the sentence, because I wasn't sure how to finish it.

"Bella, I love you the way _he_ never did and never will," Jake declared confidently. He must have been extremely definite about this; he dared to bring up the forbidden subject that was taboo between us and all we interacted with. In that instant, I felt the depression slide away bit by bit, and I could feel the warmth from Jacob's love radiate over the phone.

"I'll be over," he promised, and hung up. I unclenched my muscles, coiled like springs, and I scooted over in my bed to allow room for Jacob. I felt better, knowing my personal sun was going to visit me and take the clouds away.

Within minutes, he had climbed up the tree outside my window and scrambled through the window. He hugged me, inhaling my scent deeply, and released me. With the coming of Jake and his honest love, I felt the depression melt away and vanish like a ghost of a memory.

Snuggling into Jake, with his arms wrapped tightly around me, I drifted off into the first dreamless sleep I had in months.

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><p>Aw. Review, please? You know you want to...<p> 


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